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MEET THE TEAM
If there’s one thing that defines all the members of this great team, it is the love we all feel for the sea and our Islands. We are very aware that the Balearic Islands have great cultural, social and environmental wealth, with seabeds that are unique in the world and, for this reason, we are determined to work every day to protect and preserve them so that future generations can enjoy them too.
Josep Vives
Coordinator
Josep is a Business Management graduate who was lucky enough to be born in Mallorca, where he grew up surrounded by nature and fascinated by the Mediterranean and its peculiarities.
After graduating, Josep decided to embark on the adventure of backpacking for 8 months throughout Southeast Asia. There, he not only discovered a new passion, scuba diving, but he also witnessed the real scope of the climate - and plastic - crisis in developing countries. Months after returning to Mallorca, Josep realised how strongly he felt about the environmental issues he had witnessed and decided he needed to contribute to being part of the solution in some way. He quit his job and moved to Bali to work with Plastic Bank Indonesia.
In Bali, he contributed to and coordinated several projects dedicated to the reforestation and protection of mangroves and coral reefs.
Xesca Reynés
Marine Conservation
Xesca is a graduate in Marine Biology and Ecology. From a very young age, she was driven by her curiosity of the sea. In 2016 she decided to take the plunge and immerse herself in the world of diving, obtaining her DiveMaster certification.
Despite having traveled and dived in different parts of the world, Xesca is in love with the Mediterranean which is why she has focused her career on understanding and conserving what makes it unique; the Posidonia oceanica. Xesca has attended a number of conferences on the regression and current state of Posidonia meadows, participated in different conservation projects and is currently working at IMEDEA, studying the importance of marine plants in mitigating climate change.
All of this experience makes Xesca an indispensable member of the Arrels Marines team.
Sebastià Cabanellas
Marine Conservation
Sebastià (Tià) is a Marine Sciences graduate from the University of Cadiz with a master's degree in Marine Ecology from the University of the Balearic Islands, and someone who has been surrounded by the sea ever since he was a little boy.
After knowing what the sea was like and to follow his training, he became a dive instructor to see the dynamics and changes in the ecosystem that take place in the marine environment firsthand, something that have always interested him.
Having dived in different places around the world and after having worked in Thailand as a diving instructor, he became aware of the problems that affect the oceans, and from which our coasts are not exempt. Due to these experiences, Tià felt obliged to collaborate in projects to improve the ecosystem, and that is why he joined Arrels Marines.
Catalina Vives
Multimedia
Catalina is also born and raised on the island of Mallorca. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who has travelled and lived in Catalonia, Australia and the United Kingdom but she has been looking for a path that would take her back home ever since she left for college.
Even after seeing wonders such as the Great Barrier Reef and the paradise islands of Indonesia, Cata has made up her mind that "there is nothing that can be compared to what we have at home.
In previous projects, such as the Evolution Film Festival or the regional television IB3, Cata has focused on making the island and its peculiarities known to both foreigners and locals. And this is where her role in Arrels Marines is directed: to inform and exhibit the work of the association to the public to make the community aware of this problem. This way, our collective can continue to grow day by day.
Miquel Àngel Bonnín
Scientific Dissemination
Miquel Àngel is a lover of the sea. Despite dedicating 8 years of his life to audiovisual production, the sea called him so loudly that he left his profession behind to fully immerse himself in the Mediterranean through Scuba Diving.
For the last 10 years Miquel has - both through the activities that take place in his dive center, Tramuntana Diving & Adventure, and as a supporter and participant in various scientific projects over the years - been dedicated to teaching people how to dive and interact with the underwater world as well as promoting the protection of this natural and cultural treasure.
As a result, Miquel’s knowledge of the training, logistics and practicalities behind environmental regeneration and the interpretation of different marine conservation and protection initiatives has become central to the formulation of Arrels Marines’ projects.
Almudena Abella
Environmental Education
Almu is a Pedagogue with a master's degree in Child and Youth Psychology. She considers herself passionate about childhood and education and is a firm believer in experiential learning based on play and didactic interaction, a method of learning that she considers important as its adaptability makes it possible to respect the rhythms of each student or participant.
For Almu, being part of this project means being able to collaborate with others to motivate and promote an education based on values such as respect, responsibility and cooperation. The main value of this type of education resides in its ability to act as an instrument that helps create a better society, made up of critical-thinking and responsible citizens, willing to commit to a more just and egalitarian society.
Thus, for Almu, environmental education is a tool that generates knowledge and habits which will allow us to form responsible citizens who care for their environment.
Nicolau Cerdà
Underwater Photography
Nicolau is our underwater photographer. A great admirer of the outdoors and nature, he spends his time sharing his passion and knowledge with others. In 2015 Nicolau got started in the world of diving, becoming a dive instructor and boat skipper.
Driven by his curiosity and the desire to immortalize the beauty of the Mediterranean, he immersed himself in the world of photography, specializing in underwater photography. He has taken courses in Mallorca and the Canary Islands in which he learned to capture the delights that our seas provide us.
Aware of the degradation the Mediterranean suffers, Nicolau decided to participate in Arrels Marines in order to protect and help to recuperate the organism that makes our waters so transparent and to be able to continue capturing its beauty, for him and so that future generations can enjoy it.
Mireia Escandell
Social Networks
Mireia is a modern languages and literature graduate, specialised in Event Management. Mireia has always felt an unconditional love for her island and an uncontrollable attraction for the water that surrounds it.
She likes nothing more than listening to the sound of the waves or walking her dogs on the beaches where she spent all the summer afternoons of her childhood. She firmly believes that life is better with salt on your skin and sand on your feet, and that nothing beats a sunset by the sea.
When Mireia entered the world of diving, she discovered that one of the places in the world where she feels most comfortable and where she can enjoy the most absolute tranquility is under the sea, a world full of colors and life, but - in the case of the Mediterranean - less life than it should have, unfortunately. For this reason, Mireia collaborates with Arrels Marines to ensure that their values are shared as far and wide as possible to help preserve this very special world.
Ignasi Cifre
Ecosocial Transition
Ignasi has Mallorcan roots as well. An Energy Engineer with a Masters in Renewable Energies, he then worked for a few years in France. Due to his personal and professional concerns, he decided to leave his job abroad to come back and contribute to the projects on the island. This is why he has recently taken another Master's degree, now in Ecological Humanities, Sustainability and Eco-social Transition.
Even though within the whole team he is the one knowing the least about the sea, in the last few months he has been diving as much as the rest of the team members. It is mainly thanks to his unconditional love for the nature and the culture of our islands that he has become involved in Arrels Marines, increasing our knowledge on global warming, the impacts of humans on ecosystems, energy, transport and degrowth.
His main motivation? Developing projects that contribute to a new paradigm of the socio-economic model of the island which is healthier for both the people and the planet.